


to be loved & to be in love

by choncena



Series: the stevetony mixtape [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 22:21:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17948222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choncena/pseuds/choncena
Summary: summer, growing up, and loving someone.based off the one direction song, "18".





	to be loved & to be in love

He feels it deep and warm in his chest the first time Steve tells him he loves him.

“What?” Tony whispers quietly, his hands pausing where they lay against Steve’s golden hair. Under the July sun, the younger’s baby blues shine like diamonds as he tilts his head up to look at Tony’s shocked face. Steve’s eyebrows twitch in confusion but he keeps his gaze locked.

“What?”

“You love me?” Tony asks, subconsciously thumbing Steve’s cheekbone where it was pressed against his stomach.

They’re laying on the grass just beyond the playground their friend group would just sit and get high at, between the main road and the baseball fields of their former high school. The balmy summer weather, even under the shade of oak trees, makes Tony’s t-shirt stick to his skin and his thighs, under denim shorts and Steve’s head, are clammy and itchy against the prickling grass.

Steve shifting on his lap breaks Tony out of the mental conversation he’s having with himself about how annoying the heat is. “Uh, yes?”

“You love me.”

“Tony, I already said yes,” the blond boy sighs, rolling his eyes, “I love you. Very much.”

“You do?”

“Tony—”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” Tony exhales, the cool air against his top lip. Steve hums, turning his face away so his cheek is pressed against his own hand. Tony is pliant underneath him, leaning back on his arms with his legs crossed at the ankle. He keeps his eyes on the fluttering strands of blond hair from the breeze and the curl of Steve’s eyelashes against his cheekbones as he breathes slowly, lax and sleepy.

“Wow. You really love me, huh?” Tony mutters suddenly, waking the nearly-asleep blond on his lap, “Is it ‘cause I was the greatest person the school ever spawned? Or is it ‘cause I’m rich? Oh my god Steve, am I your sugar daddy? I’m over eighteen so technically it’s legal— wait, is it legal? Are you only with me ‘cause—”

Steve shoots up, arranging his body so he sits criss-cross next to Tony but close enough so their thighs press together, layered with sweat and dew. “Tony— Tony, stop deflecting. No, I’m not with you ‘cause of your money. And— okay, maybe  _yes_  I’m with you ‘cause you were the greatest person… Why did you say ‘spawned’?” The confusion lines on Steve’s foreheads crease further and Tony has to stifle a laugh because  _god_   _his boyfriend is adorable._

“I couldn’t think of ‘nother way to say what I wanted t’say,” Tony says simply, scooting up so his hip touches Steve’s and resting his chin on his  _delightfully_  beefy shoulder.

“Okay.. Okay, that makes sense—” Steve shakes his head, “Anyways, that’s besides the point. I  _love_  you because you’re selfless and you drink motor-oil smoothies because you don’t wanna disappoint your bots and you fell asleep in the chem lab one time but still aced the experiment and you got suspended that one time in senior year ‘cause you called Jake Wilder out on peeping in the girls’ locker rooms and then proceeded to run up the stage during the talent show while he was performing and decking him in the nose-”

“Are you just naming my mistakes ‘cause I’m feeling very attacked right now-”

“ _My point_   _is,_ ” Steve lowers his head to level an almost frustrated look at the brunet but it’s fond, “That I love you for who you are and you really can’t sway my opinion of you.”

Tony blinks then shifts so he’s sitting more comfortably against Steve, slanting forward so his forehead sticks to the material of Steve’s shirt, nearly see-through with sweat.

He feels so raw and vulnerable with Steve’s confession tumbling around in his head but he doesn’t push it aside because he  _knows_  Steve means it. His heart beats steadily in his chest, a sign of the nonexistent panic that he expects coming, because this is  _Steve—_ Steve, who he only met senior year of high school despite going to the same schools since the sixth grade; Steve, who pulled all-night benders with him just so he could have a companion when studying for their history professor’s hellish midterm; Steve, who dealt with his random outbursts of frustration in bouts of insecurity of never being enough and periods of just shutting everyone out for days at a time; Steve, who  _stayed_  when he cried, or got angry, or felt alone. He had Rhodey and Natasha and Pepper and Clint and Thor and Bruce, too, but it was always Steve.

 _It was always Steve_ —

“You know, you could at least say something-”

“I love you too,” Tony blurts out, raising his head to gauge Steve’s reaction and he feels relief ( _oh so much relief_ )when Steve’s face smooths out to just give way to a soft smile and twinkling baby blues ( _so much love for him and only him_ ).

“Yeah?” Steve’s hand comes up to rest upon his cheek, thumb stroking back and forth against the sweat-slicked skin but Tony doesn’t care if his bangs are falling, dripping, onto his forehead or that he’s even more uncomfortable being so close with another heat-emanating being.

He loves and loves and  _loves_  so deeply and so openly for the man he only once knew as simply a boy next to him,  _with_  him. It should hurt, he thinks, loving someone this much but he feels it digging and digging into his bones with a heavy coat— the mere adoration and tranquility knowing his heart,  _his whole soul_ , is tied to Steve’s and Steve’s alone and he lets it be. He doesn’t hurt but if this was pain, he knows he’s forever willing to endure it for his whole life and an eternity more if it meant Steve was  _his_.

Tony nudges his head forwards and slants his mouth against Steve’s, wet and open, but still so passionate. It’s a soft press of summer-dried lips against each other, chapped and damp from licking their lips, and their clothes are sticking to their bodies in the most heavy, uncomfortable way but this is where they know they should be— having fallen and still falling in love under the shade of the oak trees they climbed in their elementary and high school days, meters away from the places they discovered themselves, underneath the same sky that they grew up and left and came back together under.

Tony smiles and separates but his forehead is still pressed against his lover’s and it feels so right when he whispers against Steve’s lips,“Yeah. I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> posted this on my tumblr a while ago but i decided to share it here bc why not


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